JAKARTA - For Qatar, the 2022 World Cup is history. In addition to hosting the event for the first time, the country will have its first referee in the tournament's history.
Abdulrahman Al-Jassim will be one of 36 referees taking part in one of the biggest sporting events of the year.
"Al-Jassim may be young in his mid-thirties, but he's been a FIFA referee for almost a decade now," Middle East Football Editor Matt Monaghan told Football Now.
“This is a real journey for him. This is not someone who gets this show because he was Qatari at the Qatar World Cup. He refereed the AFC Champions League Final. He was a VAR official at the 2018 World Cup and refereed the Club World Cup Final (in 2019).
Abdulrahman Al-Jassim [FIFA Club World Cup Final Referee] “Henderson told me you love Manchester United and hate Liverpool” pic.twitter.com/fw1rT3nUQw
— lfc (@ynwaliverpooI) May 20, 2020
"This is nothing new for him. It shows that this is a well-developed region of the world. It is good that you will not only see the Qatari players, but also the Qatari referees, and I am sure they will all perform very well."
Some of the most famous World Cup moments have come around refereeing decisions - from Zinedine Zidane's red card in the 2006 World Cup final to the referee conceding a God's Hand goal by Diego Maradona in 1986.
In fact, there was the Graham Poll incident who was shown three yellow cards in 2006 - but no red card for Croatia's Josip Simunic.
Headlines will be made again, but with technology offering a helping hand and ever-increasing professionalism from the officials.
There is hope that this will be a World Cup where the men and women who officiated the game quietly did their job in Qatar.
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